N4 · UNIT 9

Volitional ～ようと思う

Let's, and I think I will. The volitional form powers invitations (行こう!), plans (行こうと思います), decisions (ことにする), and purposes (ために). New Year's, the national holiday of intentions.

About this unit

The volitional is the let's-form, 行こう, 食べよう, やろう, and Japanese builds its whole future-planning toolkit on top of it: ようと思います for what you're thinking of doing, ことにします for what you've decided, ために for what it's all in service of. There is exactly one right setting for this grammar: お正月, when the entire country visits shrines, draws fortunes, and announces resolutions it may or may not keep. Yuki's track record is not great.

Volitional form（意向形）～ようと思います～ことにします／ことにしました～ために

語彙 · Vocabulary 36 words · 10 kanji

Read the words 語彙

Read straight down the list once, out loud if you can. Don't grind them here, the Anki deck at the bottom does the memorizing. Right now you only want the shapes and sounds to feel familiar.

Word	Reading	Meaning
お正月	おしょうがつ	New Year (holiday)
大みそか	おおみそか	New Year's Eve
年賀状	ねんがじょう	New Year's card
初もうで	はつもうで	first shrine visit of the year
おみくじ	おみくじ	paper fortune (at a shrine)
お参り	おまいり	paying respects (at a shrine/temple)
おせち	おせち	New Year's food boxes
餅	もち	rice cake
夢	ゆめ	dream
目標	もくひょう	goal; target
決めます	きめます	to decide
会社	かいしゃ	company
社員	しゃいん	company employee
会社員	かいしゃいん	office worker (occupation)
社長	しゃちょう	company president
辞めます	やめます	to quit
続けます	つづけます	to continue (something)
続きます	つづきます	to continue (on its own)
研究	けんきゅう	research
研究します	けんきゅうします	to research
大学院	だいがくいん	graduate school
発表	はっぴょう	presentation; announcement
発表します	はっぴょうします	to present; to announce
将来	しょうらい	the future (one's own)
いつか	いつか	someday
必ず	かならず	without fail; definitely
絶対に	ぜったいに	absolutely
以上	いじょう	or more; and up
以下	いか	or less; and under
不便	ふべん	inconvenient
便利	べんり	convenient
正しい	ただしい	correct
真面目	まじめ	serious; diligent
あけましておめでとうございます	あけましておめでとうございます	Happy New Year
スケジュール	スケジュール	schedule
カレンダー	カレンダー	calendar

Learn the kanji 漢字

The 10 kanji for this unit. Tap any card to flip between its meaning and its readings, and say the reading aloud as it flips.

社

company; shrine

員

member

働

work

研

polish; sharpen

究

investigate

発

emit; depart

明

bright

正

correct; upright

以

by means of; than

不

not; un-

Read it in context 会話

Everything above, working together. Read the conversation top to bottom, out loud. Every line is built only from words and kanji you have already met, so resist the English, tap a word only if you are truly stuck.

Show English

New Year's Day at the neighborhood shrine. First shrine visit of the year, first fortunes, and this year's declarations of intent, some more binding than others.

ゆき

マリア、あけましておめでとう！

Maria, Happy New Year!

マリア

あけましておめでとうございます！これが日本のお正月ですね。すごい人ですね！

Happy New Year! So this is a Japanese New Year. Look at these crowds!

ゆき

これから、みんなでおまいりに行こう！

Come on, let's all go pay our respects!

たなか

その前に、おみくじをひきませんか。

Before that, shall we draw fortunes?

マリア

ひきます！……「小きち」でした。たなかさんは？

I'm in! ...I got 'small luck.' What about you?

たなか

「大きち」です！じつは……私、四月から、新しい会社で働くことにしました。

'Great luck'! Actually... I've decided to start at a new company in April.

マリア

えっ、ほんとうですか！おめでとうございます！

What, really?! Congratulations!

たなか

ありがとうございます。ゲームの会社の社員になります。子どもの時からのゆめだったんです。

Thank you. I'll be working at a game company. It's been my dream since I was a kid.

ゆき

すごい！マリアは？今年のもくひょうは？

Amazing! What about you, Maria? Goals for this year?

マリア

私は、試験にごうかくするために、毎日三十分、かんじをれんしゅうしようと思います。それから、いつか、日本の大学でマンガの研究をしたいんです。

To pass the exam, I'm thinking I'll practice kanji thirty minutes every day. And someday... I want to research manga at a Japanese university.

ゆき

いいね！じゃあ、私は、今年こそ、朝早くおきることにする！

Nice! Okay, me, this is FINALLY the year I start getting up early!

たなか

ゆきさん、それ、きょ年もいっていましたよ。

Yuki... you said that last year, too.

Notice: three strengths of intention in one conversation. れんしゅうしようと思います, Maria is thinking she'll do it. 働くことにしました, Tanaka has DECIDED; it's settled. And おきることにする, Yuki performs a decision on the spot. The grammar grades commitment, and Tanaka's memory grades Yuki.

Stop, learn the vocabulary before the grammar

These units are short on purpose. The grammar only clicks when the words are already automatic, so front-load the deck here, and let spaced repetition do the memorizing while the lesson does the teaching.

Import this unit's deck. Generate it with npm run content:deck, then import n4-unit9-deck.apkg into Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.)
Learn all 36 words as new cards. Get through the whole deck in a sitting or two, you're aiming for recognition, not mastery yet.
Review daily until every card reaches a 3–5 day interval. When the whole deck has settled at that spacing, the words are holding on their own and won't fight you during the grammar.
Then come back. You'll read the patterns instead of decoding the words, and that's when a "small" unit actually soaks in.

Anki open with AnkiConnect? I can confirm the deck for you.

I've learned this unit's vocabulary deck to a 3 to 5 day review interval.

Tick the box above once the deck is soaking in, then the grammar unlocks.

文法 · Grammar 4 patterns

Take one pattern at a time. Read the rule, then read each example out loud until the shape feels obvious. The words should already be automatic from your deck, so all you are learning here is how they lock together.

Quick suggestion: write these patterns down by hand as you read them. It is the one habit that textbook learners and self-taught immersion learners both swear by, and a notebook is the cheapest memory upgrade there is. Not required, just recommended.

Volitional form（意向形）

The let's/shall-I form. る-verbs: swap る for よう (食べよう). う-verbs: slide to the o-row and add う (行く→行こう, 飲む→飲もう). Irregulars: する→しよう, 来る→来よう. Polite equivalent: ましょう, which you've used since N5.

みんなでおまいりに行こう！

Let's all go pay our respects!

そろそろ帰ろうか。

Shall we head home soon?

Note: ましょう was this form in polite dress all along. Alone, the volitional is also self-talk: よし、やろう, right, let's do this. Add か for a soft group prompt: 食べようか.

～ようと思います

What you're planning: volitional + と思います. れんしゅうしようと思います, I think I'll practice. The continuous version と思っています signals the plan has been simmering.

毎日、かんじをれんしゅうしようと思います。

I'm thinking I'll practice kanji every day.

来年、日本ではたらこうと思っています。

I've been planning to work in Japan next year.

Note: Compare the ladder: 行きたい (want) → 行こうと思う (planning) → 行くことにした (decided) → 行くつもり (firmly intend) → 行く予定 (scheduled). Japanese lets you say exactly how committed you are.

～ことにします／ことにしました

Decision as an act: plain form + ことにする. 働くことにしました, I've decided to take the job. Negative decisions too: 買わないことにしました, decided not to buy.

四月から、新しい会社で働くことにしました。

I've decided to work at a new company from April.

あまいものは、食べないことにしています。

I make it a rule not to eat sweets.

Note: ことにしています (continuing) = a personal rule you keep. Cousin ことになりました means it was decided FOR you, 大阪へ行くことになりました, the company decided. Agency lives in する vs なる.

～ために

Purpose, stated plainly: plain form or noun+の, plus ために. ごうかくするために, in order to pass; 家族のために, for my family's sake.

試験にごうかくするために、毎日べんきょうします。

I study every day in order to pass the exam.

けんこうのために、あまいものをやめました。

For my health, I gave up sweets.

Note: ために is deliberate purpose with effort behind it, heavier than the light 〜に行く of Unit 5. 食べに行く is an errand; 日本語をべんきょうするために日本へ来た is a life choice.

文化 · Culture note

A short read on the world these words live in. Nothing to drill here, just the context that makes the grammar feel like something people actually say.

How Japan Starts a Year お正月

お正月 is Japan's Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year rolled into one, the one holiday when the country genuinely stops. Trains run empty on January 1st while families eat おせち (lacquered boxes of symbolic foods: black beans for health, herring roe for prosperity), children collect お年玉 envelopes, and the postal service performs its annual miracle: delivering millions of 年賀状 New Year's cards all on exactly January 1st.

The first shrine visit of the year, 初もうで, draws the biggest crowds in Japanese religious life; Meiji Shrine alone sees three million visitors in three days. You toss a coin, bow twice, clap twice, wish, bow once. Then comes the おみくじ, the paper fortune ranked from 大きち (great luck) down through curses best left untranslated. Bad fortunes get tied to a rack or tree at the shrine, you leave the bad luck behind, folded neatly.

And everyone makes resolutions, 今年のもくひょう, announced with exactly this unit's grammar and abandoned on exactly Yuki's schedule. The magic phrase is 今年こそ, THIS year for sure, a two-word admission that last year's declaration didn't survive January. The socially binding version is Tanaka's: ことにしました, said out loud, in front of witnesses. Grammar as commitment device.

Try it: Write three resolutions in Japanese right now, one per rung: 〜ようと思います (thinking), 〜ことにしました (decided), 〜つもりです (committed). Notice which verb you instinctively reach for, it's an honest audit of each plan.

生教材 · Immersion 3 assignments · real Japanese, on rails

This week in the wild

Intentions are the internet's favorite genre, every vlogger declares goals, every New Year floods social media with 今年こそ. This week you eavesdrop on the country's plans.

You will not understand everything, that is the point. Success is recognizing this unit's patterns in the wild, not full comprehension. Tick what you tried and move on.

New Year vlog goals YouTube, search 今年の目標 or 新年の抱負 Watch one goals-announcement video (January uploads are everywhere, any year). Count the intention grammar, ようと思います and ことにしました will both appear within minutes. Note which goals sound decided vs dreamed. You caught both 〜ようと思います and 〜ことにした in the wild. Shrine-visit virtual tour YouTube, search 初詣明治神宮 (Meiji Shrine hatsumode) Watch five minutes of a hatsumode crowd video. Listen for あけましておめでとうございます, watch the coin-bow-clap ritual, find the おみくじ racks. You're pre-loading a real experience you'll have someday. You can describe the shrine ritual's steps in order. Follow one creator's routine Any Japanese vlogger you've enjoyed in past missions Subscribe, formally adopt one Japanese channel as YOUR immersion source. Watch their latest video and catch how they talk about upcoming plans. Creators speak in ようと思います constantly (作ろうと思います, 行こうと思います). You have a subscribed channel and caught one plan announcement.

発話 · Speaking 8 ghost drills · say it out loud

Ghosting

Announcing intentions is the most natural speaking practice there is, everything you drill here is true. Ghost the shrine lines, then state your real plans in the prompts. Say 今年こそ like Yuki; mean it like Tanaka.

Three passes per line: listen, speak along with the voice (that's the ghost), then speak alone. Out loud, whispering doesn't build the muscle. Prompt drills show English first: answer in Japanese before revealing.

あけましておめでとうございます！

Happy New Year!

みんなでおまいりに行こう！

Let's all go pay our respects!

毎日三十分、かんじをれんしゅうしようと思います。

I'm thinking I'll practice kanji thirty minutes a day.

四月から、新しい会社で働くことにしました。

I've decided to work at a new company from April.

Say it in Japanese: Shall we head home soon? (casual)

そろそろ帰ろうか。

Hint: Volitional + か, the soft group prompt.

Say it in Japanese: I've been planning to go to Japan next year.

来年、日本へ行こうと思っています。

Hint: Volitional + と思っています for simmering plans.

Say it in Japanese: I've decided to run every morning.

毎朝、走ることにしました。

Hint: Plain form + ことにしました.

Say it in Japanese: I watch anime every day in order to study Japanese.

日本語をべんきょうするために、毎日アニメを見ています。

Hint: Purpose with ために, the noble excuse.

Audio uses your browser's Japanese voice. If you hear nothing, your system may need a Japanese voice installed, read the lines aloud from the text instead; the ghost pass still works.

練習 · Worksheet 8 exercises

Type each missing form in hiragana, then check your answers.

（1）「行きます」の volitional form（casual “let's go”）は？

（2）「食べます」の volitional form は？

（3）「します」の volitional form は？

（4）来年、日本ではたらこう（　　　　　）。, “I'm thinking of working in Japan next year.”

（5）毎朝、走る（　　）にしました。, “I've decided to run every morning.”

（6）ごうかくする（　　　）、毎日べんきょうします。, “in order to pass”

（7）「会社」のよみかたは？（ひらがなで）

（8）「研究」のよみかたは？（ひらがなで）

Check your answers to continue, it doesn't matter how many you miss.

Unit Quiz JLPT FORMAT

Pass mark 80% · instant explanations · passing unlocks the next unit